Campfire Girls take advantage of second chance
By: Nick Romanow - U-WIRE
October 20th 2003 9:12pm
"Junkies like to listen to records by junkies," reasons Christian Stone, a Methuen, Ma., native and guitarist/singer for the alternative-pop-rock band Campfire Girls.
When asked why Stone Temple Pilots singer Scott Weiland took a shining to his band, Stone says, "he probably related to our music because the records he was listening to were the ones from when we were really strung out." For Stone and his longtime musical partner, bassist Andrew Clark, this was basically the latter half of the 1990's.
The beginning of the decade started well. Stone moved out to L.A., met Clark and Jon Pikus, and formed the band Campfire Girls. Soon the band was generating a major buzz throughout the city and major labels took notice. Interscope records eventually signed the band, but shortly there after Stone and Clark fell into a dark and destructive period of drug use that seemed to put an end to all of their plans. Years later Clark was touring with the band Bicycle Thief, which was opening up for Stone Temple Pilots.
Weiland professed his love for Campfire Girls' early work and insisted that Clark work with Stone again. When the tour ended, Clark and Stone began playing together once more; Weiland even offered them practice space and support. Soon Campfire Girls were back in full force. Pikus left his slot as the drummer and the band recruited Stone's old friend, and former Failure drummer, Kellii Scott, with Mike Semple rounding out the lineup as an additional guitarist.
Not only was the band able to escape what could have been a fatal drug habit, but they were also resigned to their old label. "They're suckers," Stone jokes, explaining why, in such a cut-throat industry that has become notoriously artist-unfriendly, Interscope would resign a band that proved to be a mistake the first time around.
"It says a lot about them, doing that," Stone says. "We really appreciate the opportunity to prove ourselves again. We really blew it the first time." And although the band is thankful for all that they have survived and all that they have been given, they refuse to forget the past.
"I think it's such a part of who we are, it would be wrong to ignore. Our strongest point is that we've been through that stuff and hopefully we're over it. Our eyes are a bit wider."
Despite lyrical content that is often dark, Campfire Girls have loaded their new album, "Tell Them Hi," with beautiful harmonies, pop melodies, choruses and verses that will inspire even the most contemptuous listener to sing along. "Tell Them Hi" is certainly no generic pop-rock record though.
While Stone writes the basic song structure, each member puts their distinct stamp on the record and each member's various influences are beautifully and subtly melded together. Campfire Girls is easily more than a sum of its influences; they are the perfect example of how a band can bring together many different sounds and make a great, coherent rock record.
"The three P's" Stone says when asked about his pop influences -- "Pixies, Pavement, and P.J. Harvey." Stone also cites the heavy metal he listened to in his youth -- Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, and Judas Priest -- as an influence. It's one of Stone's favorite bands, however, whose sound comes through the most on "Tell Them Hi."
"Failure was definitely a big influence," Stone gladly admits.
Although Stone now finds himself working with Scott who was a member of the seminal, acclaimed '90s art-rock band, it's not a big deal; Stone knew him before. "I've known Kellii from when I first moved [to LA]; he was one of the first people I met ... He joined Failure after I was already a fan, so it wasn't like Kellii from Failure; it was like my bro Kellii is in Failure."
While Campfire Girls establish themselves on "Tell Me Hi" as a band that could not possibly be confused with either Failure or STP, Stone notes that he was aiming for that sound. "It was a conscious decision," Stone explains. "A lot of it had to do with working with Scott [Weiland]. He opened my ears ... it couldn't help but have an influence."
"I look at songwriting as a challenge," explains Stone. "To write a great song that can get on the radio is just as much of an art form as people who make noise. You have to make the decision; we want to make songs that people want to listen to over and over again. Marrying those two [pop music's catchiness and art-rock's integrity] is the challenge."
Stone and the rest of the band prove they are more than up for the challenge. On "Day Before", a song written by Semple, Stone lets out a chorus of "do-do-do's" that, even as they're sung with so much weight, almost distract from the heavy air of the song, which is about being abandoned and falling apart.
"Junkman" is a perfect dark, brooding rock song. "Junkman," although it sounds like something Alice in Chains could've made, is one song not to be confused as a drug-struggle track. "I don't really like explaining my lyrics in most cases," Stone prefaces before explaining that this happens to be his most misunderstood song, "It's about a guy who used to live next door to us who used to beat up his wife and he used to have junk sales every year." The song describes the man putting on the front of charitable junk sales to mask his abusive behavior.
Despite recording what is one of the most exciting new releases of the year, Stone is still humble. On the day of the album's release Stone was with his friends, trying to go grocery shopping. "All the grocery worker's are on strike, we're all trying to find yellow pages," Stone said. "We all work to make ends meet. People at work were like, 'Christian, doesn't your album come out this week?'"
Far from living the rock star life, Stone sounds happy when he said, "this [interview] is probably the most exciting thing I'll do today." When the interview is over Stone doesn't have any pseudo-intellectual deep thoughts about his music, in fact he wants to make sure he doesn't come off as an art-rock snob. "I just want to qualify that interviews are pretentious," Stone laughs, "it's really hard to talk about yourself without coming off pretentiously."
While "Tell Them Hi" is a matchless album, there are moments that shine the brightest. On the track "Make It" the band seems to recognize just how much talent they have in their hands. Stone complains "Now they don't make the songs like the way that they used to / And you can wait so long if you find that you need to." The listener realizes that there is no wait necessary; "Tell Them Hi" is packed with great songs.
Campfire Girls have delivered the surprise album of the year; songs that will stick in your head for weeks, yet still maintain an original sound that is neither a carbon-copy of another band nor apt to be duplicated by lesser musicians. The band has been given a second chance in every sense of the word and they have fully taken advantage of it.
 (C) 2002 Massachusetts Daily Collegian via U-WIRE
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